Falcons Put Up a Valiant Fight

WAUWATOSA, Wis. – The Falcon football team traveled to Wisconsin Lutheran College to take on the Warriors in the Luther Cup.

The Warriors started off the afternoon with a 26-yard field goal to take the 0-3 lead.

The Falcons stormed down the field on their opening drive.  Sophomore Michael Purkey (Woodstock, Ill.) showed off his arm on the opening drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to senior Tim Houlihan (Lockport, Ill.) to take the 7-3 lead.

The Warriors answered with a seven-play, 58-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown.  They took the 7-10 lead with the made extra point.  They went on to score two more times in the second quarter with 14-yard and 12-yard completions.

The Falcons started the third quarter with the ball but were stifled by the WLC defense on fourth and four.

The next drive was a rushing touchdown for the warriors to take the 7-31 lead.  Another field goal put them up 7-34 late in the third quarter.

The Falcons started to mount a comeback with a touchdown run for senior Matt Montgomery (Hillsboro, Texas) that brought the Falcons to 14 points.

The Falcon defense held strong holding the Warriors to a field goal attempt on the next drive that was missed to keep the score at 14-34. 

Michael Purkey led the Falcons down the field again with a 10-play, 78-yard drive that ended in a 19-yard touchdown reception for junior Christian Booker (Chicago, Ill.).  The drive saw all 78 yards in the air with senior Rico Griffin (Chicago, Ill.) bringing in four receptions for 42 yards on the one drive alone.

This was all for the Falcons as the Warriors scored one more touchdown the very next play putting up the final score of 21-41.

In his first collegiate start, Michael Purkey went 24-40 for 298 yards and two touchdowns with a long of 34.  Matt Montgomery added 17 rushing attempts for 62 yards and a touchdown while sophomore Ashar Thomas (Punta Gorda, Fla.) added 13 for 59 yards.

Freshman Andre Casas (Oswego, Ill.) was three-for-three on extra points adding three points to the Falcon total

Juniors Chase Coots (Round Rock, Texas) and Eli Wallace (Davenport, Iowa) and sophomore Justice Kaneta (Brighton, Colo.) led the Falcon defense in tackles.  Coots dragged down six solo tackles while Wallace and Kaneta each had three solo tackles and one assist tackle.

The Falcons return to Tomasini Stadium to take on the Spartans of Aurora on the 12^th of November.